“When I first read it, it struck me how contemporary it was,” Posner says. “You can connect with it immediately, in terms of what has happened recently.

“So it felt as though a political interpretation of this play worked very well, in terms of presenting a regime that oppresses its citizens. And in terms of the psychological journey of Richard, it makes complete sense as well. It is the story of almost any global tyrant.”

When it came to “As You Like It,” Noble felt he had his Rosalind (the female lead) as well: Dana Green, last at the Globe in “Life of Riley” and in the 2009 festival productions of “Cyrano de Bergerac” and “Twelfth Night.”

“I wouldn’t have done it if she hadn’t agreed,” Noble says of casting Green for the comedy.

Noble has directed “As You Like It” once before — for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the esteemed British theater he served as artistic director for some 13 years.

“It was a very interesting production, but it wasn’t totally satisfactory,” he recalls. “I had a great bunch of people — Juliet Stevenson, Fiona Shaw, Alan Rickman. Fantastic cast, actually, but it didn’t totally jell. This is jelling much better.”

The play brings a dose of comedy to balance the intensity of “Richard III” (although Noble says “Inherit the Wind” is also “a very witty play; it’ll be interesting to see how it goes down”).

Speaking of that one: Noble knew he wanted to do an American classic, but he had never read “Wind” (although he’d seen the movie).

“It’s a play about arguments,” which gives it inherent drama. “And it seemed to be a really good subject — it’s a very contemporary play.”

The non-Shakespeare work in each festival, Noble adds, “needs to be a play that works on an epic canvas. (And) that play does.”